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SAVE THE ROYAL
BROMPTON HOSPITAL
Two petitions are currently available online to sign and add your voice to
stop the closure of The Royal Brompton Hospital:
stop the closure of The Royal Brompton Hospital:
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A 10 year plan to asset strip The Royal Bromptom Hospital of its heritage, sell off its historic buildings piece by piece and remove its world class specialized health services is under way.
A corporate mega merging cost cutting exercise where the Royal Brompton Hospital has been gobbled up. |
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The takeover of Royal Brompton Hospital's specialist respiratory and cardiac services for children and adults has been met with “Alarm & Sadness" and deemed "the end of Royal Brompton Hospital, which is not at all welcome".
Victoria Borwick – Elected Patient Governor at Royal Brompton
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31st May 2020: Please know that as a Governor of the hospital we are trying hard to resist this takeover and “giving away” of our hospital and the research and expertise to St Thomas and Guys
The consultants are all up in arms about it and everyone is extremely upset, concerned and fighting for our survival. It is very difficult for the NHS employees to be seen to be publicly against it, as that is forbidden, but please you need to know that the Governors (other than the Chair and Lead Governor) are strongly against the move – the take-over “the giving up”, as are the consultants |
I would like the MP Greg Hands who is the MP for the hospital to speak up against this move
He will be seeing Matt Hancock regularly and we need him to take up this campaign
Several Councillors – Cllr Freeman and Cllr Josh Rendall have also taken up this campaign and the Council do not want to lose this hospital and although they could reject the change in planning permission – to get more flats, if this is being funded by Government then they may well be over ruled
Thanks again – please do all you can, but the Council certainly don’t want to lose the hospital so we need to work with them but get the Government to take notice of us as locals
Thank you.
Victoria
Victoria Borwick – Elected Patient Governor at Royal Brompton
He will be seeing Matt Hancock regularly and we need him to take up this campaign
Several Councillors – Cllr Freeman and Cllr Josh Rendall have also taken up this campaign and the Council do not want to lose this hospital and although they could reject the change in planning permission – to get more flats, if this is being funded by Government then they may well be over ruled
Thanks again – please do all you can, but the Council certainly don’t want to lose the hospital so we need to work with them but get the Government to take notice of us as locals
Thank you.
Victoria
Victoria Borwick – Elected Patient Governor at Royal Brompton
Robert J Bell
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4th June 2020 Fulham Wing has never been put up for sale, and no planning application has ever been submitted by our Trust in this regard (for change of use or anything else). Robert J Bell Chief Executive of Royal Brompton Hospital (Royal Brompton Hospital & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust) See: £1bn Royal Brompton Hospital decamp plans ( Architechs Journal, 8th November 2013 ) |
Cllr JANET EVANS,
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10th June 2020: We had a motion before a Full Council Meeting last year where we supported keeping the Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea. As you quite rightly say, the facilities and importance to pulmonary and cardiac patients are world class. They are essential to the community.
See you soon. Stay well. Best wishes, Janet Cllr JANET EVANS,, RBKC Courtfield Ward |
Felicity Buchan MP
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2nd July 2020: Dear Mr Schumi, You are absolutely right – we must do everything we can to protect the Royal Brompton and its services. This is something I had been very focussed on pre-covid, but the value of its services has only been highlighted in the last three months. I have written to the Health Minister to make strong representations against partial closure and the sale of its land, and have also followed up with a meeting on the subject last week. I am expecting a response to my formal letter to the Minister in the next week or so, and I will be sure to share this when it is received. Should I not receive a satisfactory response, please be aware that I will be taking further action, and bringing this to the attention of the Chamber. |
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions, and please do keep me informed of any developments.
Best wishes,
Felicity
Felicity Buchan MP
Member of Parliament for Kensington
Best wishes,
Felicity
Felicity Buchan MP
Member of Parliament for Kensington
Victoria Borwick
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2nd July 2020: Dear Mr Schumi Thank you so much for taking up this campaign, I am very worried that during lockdown everyone’s minds are on other topics and not appreciating that we shall shortly lose the excellent hospital and worldwide research centre that we have in our Borough. The collaboration between the medical teams providing care in the Marsden and the care in the Chelsea and Westminster enabling those patients that need the expertise across these centres is invaluable. I am disappointed to learn that the intention is to press ahead with this takeover – by the end of this year! These hospitals and particularly the respiratory and cardiac care at the Brompton have a world-wide following with patients and medical teams wanting to be treated here because of that expertise. |
Having research and practice all on one campus – the Fulham Road makes this a vibrant and interesting place to work and is of great benefit to our Borough and London as a whole.
I know that your local Councillors and other residents feel very strongly about this matter and we need them all to raise their voices directly to Parliament, so that our MPs and the Secretary of State for Health understands that he should not ride over the views of residents and effectively destroy this specialist institution offering cradle to grave care with a worldwide reputation for excellence.
Once they have removed one specialist hospital then they will start on the next – The Marsden.
Every good wish
Victoria Borwick
I know that your local Councillors and other residents feel very strongly about this matter and we need them all to raise their voices directly to Parliament, so that our MPs and the Secretary of State for Health understands that he should not ride over the views of residents and effectively destroy this specialist institution offering cradle to grave care with a worldwide reputation for excellence.
Once they have removed one specialist hospital then they will start on the next – The Marsden.
Every good wish
Victoria Borwick
Cllr Pat Healy
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3rd July 2020: I raised the issue at last night’s virtual meeting of the RBKC Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee and was promised that urgent action would be taken to determine what the Council can do. I am trying other ways to get the issue acted on. Kind regards Cllr Pat Healy |
Cllr Ian Henderson
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8th July 2020: We do not need to be losing a Hospital to be replaced by Luxury Housing . The Royal Brompton Hospital is part of the 'Heart Beat ' of Chelsea . At a time of National Pandemic, I believe it folly to RIP the Heart out of this Historic Institution . I have sought to engage with Bob Bell to no avail - Where are we to find the jobs in Kensington and Chelsea to replace those that will be lost ? Again land values are being put above those of a National Institution - This is a shocking betrayal of our Community. Cllr Ian Henderson , RBKC Colville Ward |
Larry Sanders
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9th July: The terrible death toll in the UK from the Coronavirus was made worse by many years of austerity. Our healthcare has been determined more by the desire to reduce taxes on the wealthiest than the health needs of our people.
The NHS Executive are planning to close the world-class heart/lung specialist Royal Brompton Hospital provision in Chelsea, to sell the site for a reported billion pounds, and to build on to the St. Thomas site in Westminster. The local people and their Council are opposed. The Green Party of England and Wales is against the destruction of this extremely successful part of the NHS and to the whole policy of healthcare decisions being based on property deals. Larry Sanders Health and Social Care Spokesperson Green Party of England and Wales |
Victoria Borwick, Elected Patient Governor at Royal Brompton
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9th July 2020: As Governors we have already said that the Guys and St Thomas’s is not easy to get to and hopeless by car so that is just one of the issues, let alone the loss of the cradle to grave care that the Brompton can give its families and to break up the expertise is terrible Getting to Guys and St Thomas is very tricky at the best of times and firstly I hope we can stop this “takeover” but otherwise we shall have to ask about transport arrangements which have not been discussed as far as I can see. Victoria Borwick – Elected Patient Governor at Royal Brompton |
Cllr Linda Wade
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10th July 2020: The Royal Brompton has been a centre of excellence and innovation for decades, we must do everything to secure its future. This is an institution that has served the local and national community, with particular success in their paediatric department, developing specialist expertise in areas such as cystic fibrosis and so permitting many children to achieve long-term healthy life outcomes.
For an ex-NHS building to be part of an asset stripping deal is immoral, despite the identified need for the Royal Marsden to expand their services and the result will be that the Fulham Wing will be converted into high-end luxury flats that no one lives in. These plans demonstrate a lack of trying to achieve truly integrated services with Chelsea and Westminster Children’s Hospital and build on the exceptional centre of learning with Imperial College and The Institute of Cancer Research and so another centre of renown gets demoted just because there was a lack of vision – a sell out! Cllr Linda Wade, RBKC Earl's Court Ward. |
Cllr Rendal, Cllr Taylor-Smith, Cllr Pascal
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14th July 2020: As the local ward Councillors, myself, Kim and Will are absolutely committed to retaining the Brompton that serves so many in our community and beyond. As the Stanley representatives we tabled at motion at Full Council to urge everyone to do all they can to retain the Brompton in RBKC. This was approved unanimously and supported by all parties. We are working to do more to ensure it stays.
Cllr Josh Rendall, RBKC Stanley Ward |
Cllr Greg Hammond
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14th July 2020: The Royal Brompton Hospital is an invaluable part of our community in both my patch of South Kensington and in Chelsea, and it would be devastating to see it go. Cllr Greg Hammond, RBKC Courtfield Ward |
Cllr Johnny Thalassites
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14th July 2020: I wholly oppose any move or merger relating to the Royal Brompton Hospital. Not only is it hugely valued by local residents, but it also makes an enormous contribution to public health and the character of Chelsea. Cllr Johnny Thalassites, RBKC Holland Ward. |
Cllr Elizabeth Campbell
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16th July 2020: I am extremely concerned about the threat to the Brompton hospital. We want to keep this much loved, world class hospital where it belongs: in the heart of Chelsea. Cllr Elizabeth Campbell Leader of the Council The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea |
Cllr Adrian Berrill-Cox
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26th July 2020: Removal of services from the Royal Brompton is both sad and unnecessary. RBKC has made clear its opposition to this act of vandalism and I hope that continuing efforts to retain the Royal Brompton as a world-class medical facility for Chelsea residents will be rewarded. Cllr Adrian Berrill-Cox, RBKC Chelsea Riverside Ward |
Cllr Cem Kemahli
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27th July 2020: As a local resident and nearby ward councillor, I know how much benefit our residents derive from having a world class hospital on their doorstep. Loosing the Royal Brompton would be a blow for Chelsea, a blow to RBKC and a blow to West London. Cllr Cem Kemahli, RBKC Royal Hospital Ward |
Cllr Charles Williams
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30th July 2020:
In 2017 I chaired a Scrutiny Select Committee which questioned NHS England about the plan to remove key services from the Brompton. Their arguments for doing so were totally unconvincing then and remain so today. Cllr Charles Williams, RBKC Redcliffe Ward |
Dr Brian Leathard
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6th August 2020:
In the Parish of Chelsea we hugely value the presence of The Royal Brompton Hospital. It brings world class medicine, outstanding care, jobs, visitors and abundant life into a vibrant neighbourhood. We need the Brompton's life not more luxury apartments. The proximity of St Luke's as neighbour, sharing Sydney Street brings huge mutual benefit. The Brompton Hospital belongs in Chelsea, it is part of Chelsea's DNA. Dr Brian Leathard, Rector, St.Luke's Church |
Margaret Spector
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Sat 9th Aug 2020 Again the greedy MP's, Developers, and other corporate company's are more interested in their pockets than they are people. Brompton is a center of excellence and it is not a piece of and from which to make a profit but it is there to serve the people of the UK Margaret Spector, local campaigner |
Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith, Deputy Leader RBKC Council
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Wed 19th Aug 2020:
“As one of the councillors for Stanley Ward, I am acutely aware of the importance of having a world-class hospital at the heart of our community and I oppose the closure and relocation of the Royal Brompton. The sale and potential redevelopment of the site would rob our residents of easy access to vital healthcare and would have a hugely negative impact on the local economy through lost jobs and services. The Brompton should not be for sale and I will not stand by and watch this prestigious institution removed from our borough”. Kim Taylor-Smith, Deputy Council |
Cllr Hamish Adourian
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Tuesday 25th Aug 2020 “I certainly support the Royal Brompton, with its world-class services so close to where we live, continuing to remain at its present site. I hope a good solution can be found that achieves that and preserves clinical excellence and collaboration.” Cllr Hamish Adourian, RBKC Earls Court Ward |
Cllr Atkinson
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27th August 2020 We are all extremely proud of our world famous medical facilities on Fulham Road. It is an act of criminal vandalism to seek to break them up in pursuit of short term financial gain from land values. Cllr Robert Atkinson |
Cllr. Dr. M. Max Chauhan
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8th September 2020 The Royal Brompton Hospital matters to me, as Councillor, resident of Chelsea and NHS worker. I whole heartedly support the campaign to save the hospital and am happy to provide written support in regard to it staying in Chelsea . Cllr. Dr. M. Max Chauhan AKC, MBA, FRSPH Councillor for Queen’s Gate Ward |
Cllr Charles O'Connor
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21st September 2020
I am determined to see the Royal Brompton remain where it is. It's a hugely important asset to the Borough and I believe the current plans are very short sighted. You have my full support. Cllr Charles O'Connor Councillor for Holland Ward |
Cllr Aarien Areti
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2nd October 2020 I wholeheartedly support this petition to Stop Royal Brompton go, it has been an integral part of RBKC history, and an asset to Kensington and Chelsea residents. Cllr Areti Councillor for Holland Ward |
Cllr Mason
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7th October 2020
“I am absolutely opposed to the Royal Brompton Hospital being taken over and swallowed up by the Guys and St Thomas Trust and its world class medical services moved out of the Borough over ten years with the buildings most likely sold off to greedy developers for a reported £1Billion+. This will be disastrous for all the Borough’s residents which is why North Kensington Councillors requisitioned an Extraordinary Council meeting on 23rd September 2020 to put more pressure on the Royal Hospital Governors who are intent on wrecking this top ranking institution that has been healing our residents since 1841. And they are signing off the deal without any consultation with the Council or residents which is a truly scandalous state of affairs”. Cllr Pat Mason, Councillor of Golborne Ward Leader of the RBKC Labour Opposition Group |
Cllr Lari
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9th October 2020 "Kensington & Chelsea is home to world-class science and medical facilities, and the Royal Brompton sits at the heart of this. We must position ourselves against a dogma that prioritises land value over funded and fit-for-purpose medical care. The council must do everything in its power to resist change of use of NHS sites and keep the Royal Brompton, a pioneer in cardiology and respiratory medicine, in Chelsea." Cllr Sina Lari Councillor for Golborne Ward Chief Whip of the Opposition, Kensington & Chelsea |
Tony Devenish
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15th Oct, 2020 I’m 100% committed to our save Royal Brompton NHS Campaign. I have been campaigning with our communities in public and behind the scenes with Government. Tony Devenish AM Kensington & Chelsea Constituency Greater London Authority, London Assembly Member |
Cllr Emma Will
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9th Nov, 2020
“Covid 19 has shown us more than ever why we need centres of excellence like the Brompton Hospital. We will do everything we can to keep it in Chelsea.” RBKC Cllr Emma Will Royal Hospital Ward, Lead Member for Culture, Leisure and Community Safety |
London Mayor, Sadiq Khan
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9th Dec, 2020
Dear Mr Schumi, Thank you for your letter to the Mayor about the Royal Brompton Hospital. The Royal Brompton is one of London's world renowned specialist hospitals and I acknowledge your concern about its future. Any changes to the way services are delivered must ensure that their quality remains world class and that patients continue to get excellent and compassionate care. The Mayor does not have any power to direct the delivery of health services. Any decisions about health services and hospitals sit with the NHS and the Secretary of State for Health. However, although he doesn't have formal powers in relation to the NHS, he has committed to using his influence and role as a political leader to champion and challenge the NHS on behalf of all Londoners. As part of this role, he has developed six tests to apply to all major health and care transformation and reconfiguration programmes. These tests are designed to help him challenge the NHS to demonstrate that major changes are in the best interest of Londoners. The tests cover:
He has said that he will not support proposals unless his six tests are met. You can find out more about the six tests and how the Mayor uses them here. Kind regards Alice McCallum Health Tea |
A similar merger conceived in 1997 and called The Paddington Health Campus Scheme cost almost £15 million and took around 10 years to plan before it was firmly scrapped. All Royal Brompton specialist services would have been removed from Chelsea along with the complete disposal of the Royal Brompton Hospital.
The Paddington Health Campus Scheme fiasco would have lead to Royal Brompton hospital selling to commercial developers including the historic Fulham Wing building. It was opposed by local residents, patients, Imperial College London and Chelsea and Westminster.
The Paddington Health Campus Scheme fiasco would have lead to Royal Brompton hospital selling to commercial developers including the historic Fulham Wing building. It was opposed by local residents, patients, Imperial College London and Chelsea and Westminster.
The new merger of St Thomas’ with The Royal Brompton is in progress and a new location in Lambeth has already been agreed.
St Thomas' services will remain within its own vicinity, but the Royal Brompton's specialist services and its patients would have to move.
The Royal Brompton would be ranked lower than St Thomas' and there will be disruptions to job roles for staff of the Royal Brompton but those in favour of the new mega merger by St Thomas's Hospital say services will still be provided to those who need them, just not in Chelsea.
Brompton & Harefield will cease to exist as an independent foundation trust. The Royal Brompton's Fulham Wing patients have already been moved to the main Sydney Street Wing and all patient respiratory work has been moved away from the Fulham Wing, which is permanent.
The merger is set to take place but is strongly opposed by RBKC councillors, local residents, Imperial College London and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
St Thomas' services will remain within its own vicinity, but the Royal Brompton's specialist services and its patients would have to move.
The Royal Brompton would be ranked lower than St Thomas' and there will be disruptions to job roles for staff of the Royal Brompton but those in favour of the new mega merger by St Thomas's Hospital say services will still be provided to those who need them, just not in Chelsea.
Brompton & Harefield will cease to exist as an independent foundation trust. The Royal Brompton's Fulham Wing patients have already been moved to the main Sydney Street Wing and all patient respiratory work has been moved away from the Fulham Wing, which is permanent.
The merger is set to take place but is strongly opposed by RBKC councillors, local residents, Imperial College London and Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
Two petitions are currently available online to sign and add your voice to
stop the closure of The Royal Brompton Hospital:
stop the closure of The Royal Brompton Hospital:
I thank all campaigners and supporters wanting to
SAVE THE ROYAL BROMPTON HOSPITAL.
I support the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council.
- Heinz Schumi
SAVE THE ROYAL BROMPTON HOSPITAL.
I support the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Council.
- Heinz Schumi
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In The News....
Private Eye Magazine: August 2020 - Loss of trust (Click to enlarge)
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Lead governor of Royal Brompton, the controversial Col Mates, one time MP & such a good friend of convicted fraudster, Asil Nadir, he gave him a watch engraved with, "Don't Let The Buggers Get You Down"
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1st Dec 2020
In September GMB London reported information about the proposed rundown of services at the Royal Brompton NHS Hospital and the unanimous vote by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council to oppose the sell-off of the hospital site for the development of luxury dwellings.
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Councillor Adrian Berrill-Cox (Con) whose life was saved by medics at the Brompton said: “We’ve already got a world class facility”.
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"The site is classified as community land, and we would oppose any attempt to turn it into a luxury housing estate.”
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Southwark councillors have voiced alarm that the move will inevitably mean health professionals losing their jobs and ‘efficiencies’ found within services.
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"all maintenance and improvements to the Brompton buildings will now cease – so in 7 years time the building will be closed & flogged off"
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The Royal Brompton and Harefield is one of the more secretive Foundation Trusts, publishing only minutes of its board meetings once a quarter, and no Board papers.
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“It would be disastrous for residents in Kensington and Chelsea if it were to leave the borough.”
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“If things proceed as we expect we will still be planning for some kind of corporate merger sometime in the first quarter of 2021.”
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Under Cover Of Covid.
Recently governors were told the planned merger with St Thomas’ and Guys in Southwark will happen early in the new year - earlier than they expected. Earlier this year the Brompton said "an agreed merger, is the best and most positive way" of integrating services offered by both trusts. READ MORE |
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"merger would see the Royal Bromton move several services to St Thomas’ Westminster Bridge site. An “accelerated” timescale hopes to see the deal done by January 2021."
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Photographer David Levene and Sarah Boseley spent a day with patients and staff in the paediatric department at the Royal Brompton hospital in London, which treats children with heart and lung diseases.
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The worst performing trust financially in the entire country was King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which had a predicted deficit of more than £55 million.
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: -£8.126 million Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust: -£5.052 million Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust: -£2.068 million The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust: -£8,000 READ MORE |
Photograph by Alicia Canter / The Guardian
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The Royal Brompton hospital’s heart centre is among the best in the country, so why is it earmarked for closure?
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Lord Darzi & Baroness Boothroyd
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26 Nov 2017
Lord Darzi and Sir Magdi Yacoub say it would be an ‘unforgivable folly’
Former Speaker of the Commons Baroness Boothroyd has also joined the fight. READ MORE |
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A world-leading hospital recently ‘saved’ by NHS bosses is being lined up for a billion pound sale to make way for luxury flats.
Last Thursday health chiefs said the Royal Brompton in London could continue performing congenital heart surgery – lifting a threat it had been under for years. But plans have now emerged showing the Brompton’s board wants to shift the specialist heart and lung centre from its five-acre Chelsea site – which is thought to be worth over £1 billion. READ MORE |
View & Download Documents
Chelsea Medical Campus v3.5 April 2015
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